The present invention is generally directed to materials and associated methods for the analysis and treatment of diabetic disorders, and in particular, is concerned with the identification, analysis and application of materials that may participate in the transmission and effectuation of insulin action that averts the occurrence of the diabetic condition.
For some time, diabetic research has focused on the action of insulin at the cellular level, and in particular, has determined that insulin action may take place by the generation of intracellular mediators which modulate certain key enzymes. Thus, it has been believed for some time that insulin action at the cellular level is not direct but rather occurs through the stimulation by insulin of its cellular receptors which in turn, cause the generation and dispatch of hitherto chemically undefined substances which stimulate certain key enzyme activities.
Thus, while the diabetic condition is largely attributed to an inability of the patient to synthesize sufficient insulin, a particular variety of diabetes known as Type II adult-onset diabetes is recognized, wherein the patient is capable of synthesizing sufficient quantities of insulin and likewise possesses sufficient cellular receptors. however, the activities of insulin are not carried out. Applicant and the co-workers identified in Publication Nos. 1-4 above, have conducted extensive investigations of the cellular environment, in particular with rat liver fractions, and determined that such mediators or messengers exist that appear to modulate the activities of certain key enzymes such as pyruvate dehydrogenase, adenylate cyclase and acetyl CoA carboxylase. Despite the extensive knowledge gained from the review of the results of these investigations, there still existed no knowledge as to the actual mechanisms on the cellular level that were involved in the generation of the messenger material, nor was there a suggestion as to the chemical structure and correspondingly, the identity and number of constituents of such messenger material.
In Publication No. 4, the present inventor speculated that two materials may exist, the first being a stimulator and the second an inhibitor. Notwithstanding efforts to characterize the molecular weight of these materials and to determine within some general scope the activity of these materials, the exact identity of the materials has remained unknown as has their origin and action.
The present application is therefore directed to the identification of messenger material as to its structure, origin and action, and to corresponding diagnostic and therapeutic applications to which the messenger material may be put.